With the summer sun out every evening, we decided take advantage of it–not to mention the scenery of our new hometown. Paul put together a little walking tour for us on Thursday and together we strolled along Circus Maximus (home of many chariot races in its day) to start. More photos to come.

We have an appointment with the *US embassy tomorrow where she’ll register for a US birth certificate, social security number and US passport. Since a passport falls under the category of “photo ID”, a picture is necessary. That’s where the trouble fun starts.

In order of difficulty, I present the requirements for the photo of our 3-week old daughter:

It needs to be a photo of her head.

Facing forward.

Eyes open.

No visibly flailing limbs.

White or off-white background.

Clear, not blurry.

Body parts of other people are strictly forbidden.

(Optional) Somewhat pleasant facial expression.

We took her to a photo shop where the Italian photographer haphazardly snapped two shots and decided one would have to do. Eight euros later, we discovered that her left hand is obscuring half of her face. Super.

Then we brought her home for a couple more photo sessions. Beyond the physical limitations–she can only hold her head up for a few seconds and has little-to-no control over her arms, which insist on flying toward her face–there is a window for timing. Phoebe is more or less on a three-hour loop. This includes: sleeping, eating and a brief activity, and by “activity” I mean something like a diaper change, a bath, a book or tummy time on her play mat. Also, the active portion lasts about 10 minutes before she’s beat…and cranky. With that said, I think we have a couple of shots that might do. These are not them:

*Dual citizenship is out too. Phoebe was born in Rome but neither of us are citizens of Italy. So unless she marries an Italian, which seems a little rash at this point, her citizenship will be solely American. Initially I thought it was because of our visa status but I have been corrected. Turns out, it’s just Italy. Oh well.